Category: Senior Care

One of the great unknowns for today’s senior is the cost of healthcare. Fidelity estimates that a recently retired senior couple will spend nearly $300,000 on out-of-pocket healthcare expenses — not including the costs of long-term care. That’s an alarming exclusion, given that long-term care is among the priciest and most commonly needed forms of senior healthcare. Statistically speaking, seven of 10 people will require some level of long-term care in their lifetime.

You want the best care possible for your elderly parent, but you don’t have the bandwidth to provide it around the clock. You’re not alone. Hundreds of thousands of families around the U.S. need some form of supplementary care to help with elderly relatives who have physical or cognitive impairments. If your parent isn’t quite ready for full-time nursing home care, adult day care might provide the support you need.

According to research by the National Institute of Health, there are about 1.5 million elderly adults above the age of 65 in nursing homes and 1 million in assisted living facilities. This population group of 65+ individuals is growing rapidly as 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 each day. In fact, the group has grown by 34.2% over the last decade and is expected to continue growing at a rapid pace meaning more and more people will require care in an assisted living or nursing home.

While palliative care and hospice care have a lot of similarities, there are some key differences to consider when thinking about which option is right for you or your loved ones. In this post, we’ll talk about what palliative and hospice care are and who can benefit from each.

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, many seniors are left with questions about the status of services and how to stay connected with loved ones. To help, we’ve compiled this comprehensive resource guide for seniors that covers essential coronavirus questions along with several resources to help stay updated and ensure your well-being throughout the situation.

With the spread of the novel coronavirus or COVID-19, people are being asked to practice social distancing and to stay at home to help staunch the transmission of the disease. Transmission of COVID-19 happens person to person and, therefore, it’s essential that we practice social distancing and isolation especially for those who are elderly or have compromised immune systems.

When you start shopping for long-term care insurance, you’ll realize quickly that it’s pricey and complicated. And that can leave you wondering whether this form of coverage is worth it. Unfortunately, there’s no short answer to that question. Long-term care insurance can add value in certain situations, depending on the coverage, as well as your net worth, your age, and your health history. Before you can fully evaluate how long-term health insurance would fit into your life, though, it’s wise to master the basics of how this coverage works.

There’s a lot of questions and uncertainty about the ongoing coronavirus situation, but we do know that one group is especially at risk and needs to take extra precautions: seniors. The Chinese Center for Disease Control (which has been studying the virus since the outbreak began in Wuhan) found the fatality rate for people under 50 was 0.5%, but this number rose to 3.6% for individuals aged 60-69, 8% for elderly people 70-79, and 14.8% for people 80 years old and above.